Do It Today: Overcome Procrastination, Improve Productivity, and Achieve More Meaningful Things

By Darius Foroux

Are you also tired of putting off your dreams until "tomorrow?" Guess what! Tomorrow never comes. Am I right?

I've procrastinated and put off my desire to write a book for a decade. I always came up with excuses like, "it's not the right time." Or, "I need to do more research."

But in 2015 I got tired of this

• Language: English
• Publisher: North Eagle Publishing
• Release date: Oct 20, 2022
• ISBN: 9789083023878

Darius Foroux

Darius Foroux is the author of 7 books, including the best-sellers 'Think Straight' and 'What It Takes To Be Free.' Since 2015, he's been sharing his thoughts about life, business, and productivity on his blog. His ideas and work have been featured in TIME, NBC, Fast Company, Inc., Observer, and many more publications. 500K+ people read his blog every month. Join his free newsletter: http://dariusforoux.com/

Book preview

Thank You: A Gift

Thank you for purchasing this book. I really appreciate that you picked this book out of the millions of options you have. Deciding to read one book over the other might seem small to a reader with so many options, but to me, the author, it means everything.

To show you my gratitude, I want to offer you something in return. I've put together a bundle of 6 resources with proven tips for optimizing your life and work.

It’s called The Growth Kit and it includes 4 short eBooks, a checklist, and an infographic. Go to  dariusforoux.com/growth-kit to grab your free kit.

Enjoy!

-Darius

About The Author

Darius Foroux (pronounced as Da-reeus Fo-roo) is the author of 7 books, and the creator of 6 online courses. He writes about productivity, business, and wealth building. His ideas and work have been featured in TIME, NBC, Fast Company, Inc., Observer, and many more publications. Until now, more than 30 million people have read his articles.

More books by Darius Foroux

Win Your Inner Battles (2016)

How To Go From Procrastinate Hero to Procrastinate Zero (2016)

THINK STRAIGHT (2017)

What It Takes To Be Free (2019)

Highly Productive Remote Work (2020)

The Road to Better Habits, Updated and Expanded (2021)

Find them all at dariusforoux.com/books

Table of Contents

Thank You: A Gift

About The Author

Table of Contents

Preface

About This Book

How To Read This Book

Part I: Overcoming Procrastination

Do It Today, Not Tomorrow

What I Do When I Can’t Focus

How To Beat Procrastination (backed by science)

How To Stop Wasting Time and Improve Your Personal Effectiveness

The Habits Of Unproductive People You Don’t Want To Copy

This 30-Minute Evening Ritual Will Help You To Kick Life In The Ass.

Why Disconnecting From The Internet Improves Your Focus

The Single Biggest Reason Most People Procrastinate In Life

This Ancient Habit Will Maximize Your Focus

How To Focus Better: Manage Your Attention (not your time)

Part II: Improving Productivity

Smartphones Harm Your Productivity More Than You Think

How Perfectionism Is Destroying Your Productivity

How To Read 100 Books A Year

Take A Vacation: It Boosts Your Productivity And Reduces Stress

Eliminate Mindless Browsing

20 Things That Will Make You More Productive Than Ever

Here’s Why Time Off Work Actually IMPROVES Your Work and Life

Time Blocking: Improve Your Focus And Get More Meaningful Work Done

I Stopped Working Out Daily. Here’s What Happened.

If You Want To Be More Productive, Research Shows You Need A Break

Part III: Achieving More

Don’t Know What You Want? Improve These 7 Universal Skills

Leave The Office On Time and Don’t Take Your Work Home

Consistency Is Key: Improve By 0.1% Every Day

Who Says You Have To Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone?

If You Can Believe It, You Can Achieve It

Don’t Compete. Create!

All Strength Comes From Repetition

How I Measure My Life

Why You Should Live Like You’re Immortal

The Power Of Compounding: You Can Achieve Anything, If You Stop Trying To Do Everything

Postscript

Thanks For Reading

Preface

Thanks for taking the time to read this book. You could’ve done a million other things with your time, yet you decided to pick up this book about improving your productivity. When I published the first edition of this book in 2018, the economy was doing well, and more people were excited about online opportunities than ever. As I’m writing this new preface, it’s four years later, and we’re living in a totally different world.

The 2020s decade started with a pandemic, then we got extraordinary inflation, a war in Europe, and conflicts between the two super-powers of the world, and it seems like there is no end to these global challenges. All of these things impact our lives. But there’s another, bigger, challenge we’re going through in our modern lives. We’re getting more passive. So many of us live on auto-pilot. The pressure of daily life is so high that we’re only doing the bare minimum just to survive.

But what happened to thriving in the world? What happened to getting the most out of yourself? In our strange world, which is both complex and also filled with many temptations, it’s easy to forget yourself. But we can’t allow that to happen. We must take control of our time, actions, and attention. Only then can we truly thrive.

That’s what Do It Today is all about. This book gives you the tools to adapt and thrive in today’s fast-paced world. And the best thing? You can improve your productivity, boost focus, and overcome procrastination without sacrificing your mental health. Yes, that’s possible. You CAN be a person who gets a lot done and you can be happy at the same time. It’s a myth that you need to be a miserable workaholic to achieve results in your life. Based on the feedback I’ve received from readers of Do It Today over the past several years, I can confidently say that this book will help you. This book's print and digital editions have sold over 60,000 copies worldwide. And I’ve received more than a thousand emails from readers who said this book changed their life. Isn’t that weird?

Something so simple as a book has the ability to change everything. I can relate to that 100%. In fact, that’s why I started writing. For years, I tried to find a breakthrough and change my life. I wanted what so many of us are after: A good life, a career I enjoy, doing fun things, earning good money, and spending time with great people. I just didn’t know how to make that happen until I discovered personal development books.

Do It Today is a movement. A philosophy. A way of life.

The title didn’t have a profound meaning when I first wrote this book. I had written an article called Do It Today, which I thought captured my philosophy for life nicely. But I didn’t give the title much thought. Lately, I’ve been repeating the phrase Do It Today to myself while doing hard work. Today I went on an intense ride on my road bike, and towards the end of the one-hour workout, I repeated the phrase to myself.

Do It Today, as in, get the most out of your workout right now. Leave it all on the table. Don’t think, I have to work tomorrow, or anything else that you might use as an excuse not to push yourself. My mind tries to do that all the time.

Take writing this new preface. I’ve been thinking about writing this all week. Sometimes we need to repeat the phrase Do It Today multiple times before we actually do it that day. But that’s good. At least this is a motto that helps you to do meaningful work.

Do It Today is a lifestyle. I’ve been living this lifestyle for many years, but I finally have a name for it. If you don’t have a motto for life, I invite you to adopt this one. Say it to yourself when you’re getting ready for work. Say it when you want to work out but don’t feel like leaving the house. Share it with your partner when hanging out at home for too long. Talk about it with your co-workers and inspire each other to get more done in less time.

Use the hashtag #DoItToday on social media when you post about the things you’re doing in life. Whatever helps you to embody the philosophy of this book. It’s truly a lifestyle, and one that’s not only rewarding but also good for your health, career, and relationships. Everybody likes someone who does what they say!

I can honestly go on about the benefits of books forever. But let’s get down to the actual book. For the past few days, I spent several hours to re-read the book after all this time to see whether it needed updating. But honestly, the content is more relevant today than in 2018. In fact, improving your productivity and overcoming procrastination will be one of the most important things of the 2020s decade. The opportunities are endless if we can improve our output and stay sane. I hope everything inside this book will change your life just like mine. Enjoy!

-Darius

About This Book

As I’m writing this, I’m blocked from accessing my email provider that I use to send out my weekly newsletter. This email provider is the most important service I use to run my blog. It’s equally important as my blog itself.

The reason I can’t access my email provider and send emails to my subscribers (even new subscribers who join my newsletter are not receiving my welcome email) is that I’m being list-bombed. It happens when spammers bomb your email list signups with emails from people who didn’t want to sign up for your list. And now, I’m known as a spammer because I send emails to people who didn’t sign up for them. At least, this is what a website that lists spammers says.

In their eyes, I’m a spammer. Am I one? Of course not. I have a life. However, publishing weekly articles and staying in touch with my readers is also a part of my life. And that’s been taken away from me now. The irony is that I migrated to this provider ten days ago. I’ve spent dozens of hours on that process. Normally, I would get pissed off about

Reviews for Do It Today

[Roxana Luca · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very helpful! You must read it! ? It is amazing.

[Joshua Humes · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was very interesting and edifying. Thank you for this book.

[Faisal Meshal. · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

good read, a little bit redundancy but overall a good book!